My Thoughts On : The Shadow and Bone series (reread)
I first read the Shadow and Bone series about six years ago, and I wanted to refresh my memory before watching the Netflix series, so earlier this year I started my reread of all of the Grisha books. It’s been a lot of fun!
This will mostly be about my observations between then and now, rather than a review.
Shadow and Bone / Siege and Storm / Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Genre : YA, Fantasy
Series : The Grisha
My Rating : 3.5/5
About the Books :
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
My Thoughts :
One thing that surprised me, rereading the books, is how quickly I went through them. The wordcount is smaller than in a lot of YA fantasy novels I’ve read in the past few years, and it shows. The pace is super quick, there’s always something happening and not much time to reflect on what happened or to delve deeply into the world.
It also felt like the trilogy is a bit on the younger side of YA – which is not a bad thing at all, on the contrary! But it surprised me because I read them both times as an adult and didn’t remember feeling similarly the first time. I know I’ve seen several discussions around about YA today being geared more towards older teens and adults, and maybe that’s why.
Also, something that made me smile, but in my first review I wrote : “There’s a huge cast of characters and as always, I got a little confused.” And I don’t remember feeling like this at all! I remembered very little about the Grisha orders and the characters other than Alina, Mal, and the Darkling, but I had no confusion this time around. It also wasn’t my first fantasy novel at all, so I’m not sure what was going on there!
Overall though, I felt my thoughts about the characters and the story hadn’t change much. I was pretty indifferent to the romance, but I liked the world and the overall story. I’ve read some YA fantasy I enjoy more since, but it still was really entertaining and I’m glad I reread them.
I still love the Darkling though – as a character, and not as a love interest. He’s an obvious villain but a well done one.
I’ve since also watched the show and enjoyed it. I had a few issues with it, but overall I had a really good time watching it and it was visually gorgeous. Just like with the books, my favourite characters were the Six of Crows, and I’d love to see more of the Ketterdam life. I’m hoping for a few more seasons!
I’ve never been able to go back and reread the series after the third book. I was so upset at how it ended. Mal was such an abusive boyfriend and the casual treatment of death/resurrection and it just destroyed all the lovely feelings I had about the series until then. I read the later series, which I enjoyed though never as much as the original, and I’ve started reading the newest one that just had a book come out. I dont even remember the first one, though, so that might be an issue. I’ve heard the netflix series is a combo of the Six of Crows and Shadow & Bone series, which I think is interesting.
Yes, the series is a mix oh both, I was skeptical at first but it the end I thought it worked quite well.
And I agree about Mal. Even rereading it, I was almost expecting to maybe have a softer opinion after all this time, but not really. Mal is much more likable in the series though : he is supportive and good like Mal never really was in the book. He’s a different character imo.